The Goods Vehicles (Ascertainment of Maximum Gross Weights) Regulations 1976

Statutory Instruments

1976 No. 555

ROAD TRAFFIC

The Goods Vehicles (Ascertainment of Maximum Gross Weights) Regulations 1976

Made

7th April 1976

Laid before Parliament

14th April 1976

Coming into Operation

5th May 1976

The Secretary of State for the Environment, in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 107 and 110 of the Road Traffic Act 1972, as amended by section 1(2) of, and paragraph 5 of Schedule 1 to, the Road Traffic (Drivers Ages and Hours of Work) Act 1976, and of all other enabling powers, and after consultation with representative organisations in accordance with section 199(2) of the said Act of 1972, hereby makes the following Regulations:—

1.  These Regulations shall come into operation on 5th May 1976, shall have effect from 1st January 1976 and may be cited as the Goods Vehicles (Ascertainment of Maximum Gross Weights) Regulations 1976.

2.—(1) In these Regulations “ the Act of 1972” means the Road Traffic Act 1972 as amended by the Road Traffic (Drivers Ages and Hours of Work) Act 1976.

(2) The Interpretation Act 1889 shall apply for the interpretation of these Regulations as it applies for the interpretation of an Act of Parliament.

3.  For producing, for the purposes of paragraph (d) in the definition of “relevant maximum weight” in section 110 of the Act of 1972, the notional maximum gross weight of a vehicle of a class listed in column (1) of Schedule 1 to these Regulations, the number set against that class in column (2) of that Schedule is hereby prescribed as the number by which the unladen weight of that vehicle is to be multiplied.

4.  For producing, for the purposes of paragraph (d) in the definition of “relevant maximum train weight” in section 110 of the Act of 1972, the notional maximum gross weight of an articulated goods vehicle combination of a class listed in column (1) of Schedule 2 to these Regulations, the number set against that class in column (2) of that Schedule is hereby prescribed as the number by which the sum of the unladen weights of the motor vehicle and semi-trailer which form that combination is to be multiplied.

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State

John Gilbert

Minister for Transport

Department of the Environment

7th April 1976

SCHEDULE 1 MULTIPLIERS FOR MOTOR VEHICLES AND TRAILERS

(1)	(2)
Class of Vehicle	Number
Part A—Motor Vehicles
1. Dual purpose vehicles not constructed or adapted to form part of an articulated goods vehicle combination	1.5
2. Break-down vehicles	2
3. Works trucks and straddle carriers used solely as works trucks	2
4. Electrically propelled motor vehicles	2
5. Vehicles constructed or adapted for, and used solely for, spreading material on roads to deal with frost, ice or snow	2
6. Motor vehicles used for no other purpose than the haulage of lifeboats and the conveyance of the necessary gear of the lifeboats which are being hauled	2
7. Living vans	1.5
8. Vehicles constructed or adapted for, and used primarily for the purpose of, carrying equipment permanently fixed to the vehicle, in a case where the equipment is used for medical, dental, veterinary, health educational, display or clerical purposes and such use does not directly involve the sale, hire or loan of goods from the vehicle	1.5
9. Three wheeled motor vehicles designed for the purpose of street cleansing, the collection or disposal of refuse or the collection or disposal of the contents of gullies	2
10. Steam propelled vehicles	2
11. Vehicles designed and used for the purpose of servicing, controlling, loading or unloading aircraft on an aerodrome	2
12. Motor vehicles of a class not mentioned above where equipment, apparatus or other burden is permanently attached to and forms part of the vehicle and where the vehicle is only used on a road for carrying, or in connection with the use of, such equipment, apparatus or other burden	1
13. Motor vehicles of a class not mentioned above which are either— (a) heavy motor cars or motor cars first used before 1st January 1968, or (b) locomotives or motor tractors first used before 1st April 1973.	2
14. Any motor vehicles not mentioned above	4
PART B—Trailers
1. Engineering plant	1
2. Trailers which consist of drying or mixing plant designed for the production of asphalt or of bituminous or tar macadam	1
3. Agricultural trailers	1
4. Works trailers	1
5. Living vans	1.5
6. Any trailers not mentioned above	3

INTERPRETATION

In this Schedule:—

“agricultural trailer”, “dual purpose vehicle”, “straddle carrier” and “works trailer” have the meanings respectively given to those expressions in Regulation 3(1) of the Motor Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1973(1), as amended(2);

“break-down vehicle” means a motor vehicle on which there is mounted apparatus designed for raising a disabled vehicle wholly or partly from the ground or for drawing a disabled vehicle when so raised, and which is not used for the conveyance of goods other than a disabled vehicle wholly raised by that apparatus and which carries no other load other than articles required for the operation of, or in connection with, that apparatus or otherwise for dealing with disabled vehicles;

“engineering plant” means movable plant or equipment being a motor vehicle or trailer (not constructed primarily to carry a load) especially designed and constructed for the special purposes of engineering operations;

“first used” shall be construed in accordance with Regulation 3(2) of the Motor Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1973; and

“works truck” means a motor vehicle designed for use in private premises and used on a road only in delivering goods from or to such premises to or from a vehicle on a road in the immediate neighbourhood, or in passing from one part of any such premises to another or to other private premises in the immediate neighbourhood or in connection with road works while at or in the immediate neighbourhood of the site of such works.

SCHEDULE 2 MULTIPLIERS FOR ARTICULATED GOODS VEHICLE COMBINATIONS

(1)	(2)
Class of Combination	Number
1. Articulated goods vehicle combinations where the semi-trailer is a trailer of a kind mentioned in paragraph 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 of Part B of Schedule 1 above	1.5
2. Any other articulated goods vehicle combination	2.5

EXPLANATORY NOTE

These Regulations prescribe for the purposes of Part III of the Road Traffic Act 1972 (which relates to the licensing of drivers) the multipliers which are to be used to ascertain, by reference to the unladen weight of the vehicle, the notional maximum gross weights of motor goods vehicles, goods trailers and articulated goods vehicle combinations in cases where the appropriate gross weight or train weight of the vehicle or vehicle combination is not marked on the vehicle itself in accordance with the Motor Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1973. By virtue of Section 1(3) of the Road Traffic (Drivers' Ages and Hours of Work) Act 1976 these Regulations have effect from 1st January 1976.

(1)

(1973 I, p. 93).

(2)

The relevant amending instrument is S.I. 1975/641 (1975 I, p. 2316).